Gateway policy enforcement and service metadata binding

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a method for gateway policy enforcement. The method includes receiving configuration data from a services registry. Also, the method includes annotating, based on the configuration data, a plurality of policies with flags. In addition, the method includes binding, using the annotations of the policies, a route to at least one of the annotated policies.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______,filed MONTH DAY, 2016, entitled “MONITORING OF APPLICATION PROGRAMINTERFACE INTEGRATIONS”; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______,filed MONTH DAY, 2016, entitled “CONFIGURATION DATA AS CODE”.

BACKGROUND

A services gateway may be configured to enforce many different policies.The policies may include different authentication types, authorizationrules, throttling rules, and/or and traffic swimlanes. The policiesenforced for a given request received at the services gateway may becontrolled by a service configuration stored within a services registry.In other words, the services gateway enforces policies based on data ofthe services registry. The lookup of this data, as a policy enforcementmechanism, may be slow and subject to increasing delay as the number ofpolicies enforced on the services gateway increases.

SUMMARY

In general, in one aspect, the invention relates to a method for gatewaypolicy enforcement. The method includes receiving configuration datafrom a services registry. Also, the method includes annotating, based onthe configuration data, a plurality of policies with flags. In addition,the method includes binding, using the annotations of the policies, aroute to at least one of the annotated policies.

In general, in one aspect, the invention relates to a system for gatewaypolicy enforcement. The system includes a hardware processor and memory.Also, the system includes software instructions stored in the memory.The software instructions are configured to execute on the hardwareprocessor, and, when executed by the hardware processor, cause thehardware processor to receive configuration data from a servicesregistry. Also, when executed by the hardware processor, the softwareinstructions cause the hardware processor to annotate, based on theconfiguration data, a plurality of policies with flags. Still yet, whenexecuted by the hardware processor, the software instructions cause thehardware processor to bind, using the annotations of the policies, aroute to at least one of the annotated policies.

In general, in one aspect, the invention relates to a non-transitorycomputer readable medium for gateway policy enforcement. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium stores instructions which, whenexecuted by a computer processor, include functionality for receivingconfiguration data from a services registry. Also, the non-transitorycomputer readable medium stores instructions which, when executed by thecomputer processor, include functionality for annotating, based on theconfiguration data, a plurality of policies with flags. Still yet, thenon-transitory computer readable medium stores instructions which, whenexecuted by the computer processor, include functionality for binding,using the annotations of the policies, a route to at least one of theannotated policies.

Other aspects of the invention will be apparent from the followingdescription and the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B show schematic diagrams of a system for service gatewaypolicy enforcement and service metadata binding, in accordance with oneor more embodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show flowcharts of methods for service gateway policyenforcement and service metadata binding, in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the invention.

FIG. 3 shows an example of service gateway policy enforcement andservice metadata binding, in accordance with one or more embodiments ofthe invention.

FIG. 4A shows a computing system, in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the invention.

FIG. 4B shows a group of computing systems, in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Specific embodiments of the invention will now be described in detailwith reference to the accompanying figures. Like elements in the variousfigures are denoted by like reference numerals for consistency.

In the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a morethorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent toone of ordinary skill in the art that the invention may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well-known featureshave not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicatingthe description.

Throughout the application, ordinal numbers (e.g., first, second, third,etc.) may be used as an adjective for an element (i.e., any noun in theapplication). The use of ordinal numbers is not to imply or create anyparticular ordering of the elements nor to limit any element to beingonly a single element unless expressly disclosed, such as by the use ofthe terms “before”, “after”, “single”, and other such terminology.Rather, the use of ordinal numbers is to distinguish between theelements. By way of an example, a first element is distinct from asecond element, and the first element may encompass more than oneelement and succeed (or precede) the second element in an ordering ofelements.

In general, embodiments of the invention provide a method, a system, anda computer readable medium for gateway policy enforcement and servicemetadata binding. The following description provides services gatewayswith a mechanism to quickly and efficiently respond to client requests.Moreover, as the number of services accessed via a services gatewayincreases and/or the number of policies enforced at the services gatewayincreases, the response time of the services gateways described hereinwill remain constant, and not coordinately increase.

FIG. 1A shows a schematic diagram of a system (100) for service gatewaypolicy enforcement and service metadata binding, in accordance with oneor more embodiments of the invention. The system (100) includes aservices registry server (102) in communication with one or moreservices gateways (104), where the services gateways (104) are incommunication with one or more clients (106). More specifically, FIG. 1Ashows the services registry server (102) in communication with a firstservices gateway (104 a), a second services gateway (104 b), and a thirdservices gateway (104 n). Moreover, FIG. 1A shows the first servicesgateway (104 a) in communication with a first client (106 a), a secondclient (106 b), and a third client (106 c); the second services gateway(104 b) in communication with a fourth client (106 d) and a fifth client(106 e); and the third services gateway (104 n) in communication with asixth client (106 n).

As described herein, communications between the services registry server(102) and the services gateways (104), and between the services gateways(104) and the clients (106), may occur via one or more computer networksto which the registry server (102), the services gateways (104), and theclients (106) are coupled. For example, the computer network(s) mayinclude wired and/or wireless portions of public and/or private datanetworks, such as wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs),the Internet, etc.

For purposes of simplicity and clarity, the system (100) is shown inFIG. 1A to include a single instance of the services registry server(102), three services gateways (104), and six clients (106) inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the invention. However it iscontemplated that the system (100) may include multiple servicesregistry servers (102) in accordance with one or more embodiments of theclaims. As an option, in systems including multiple services registryservers (102), there may be a single logical services registry that isdistributed such that the logical services registry is stored onmultiple physical services registry servers (102) in accordance with oneor more embodiments of the invention. Moreover, it is contemplated thatthe system (100) may include any number greater than or less than threeservices gateways (104), and/or any number greater than or less than sixclients (106) in accordance with one or more embodiments of theinvention.

As described herein, each of the clients (106 a-106 n) includes softwareand/or hardware that sends requests to one or more of the servicesgateways (104 a-104 n) in accordance with one or more embodiments of theinvention. For example, each of the clients (106 a-106 n) may include adesktop computer, portable computer (e.g., laptop, netbook, etc.), ormobile device (e.g., tablet computer, cellular phone, smartphone, etc.),etc. Moreover, each of the clients (106 a-106 n) may include executingthereon one or more applications. As an option, an application mayinclude a financial management application, such as accounting softwareor tax software. Moreover, a request from one of the clients (106) mayinclude a message requesting access to one or more resources offered viathe service gateways (104). For example, the request may include a GETrequest for retrieving data from a service, a PUT request for storingdata to a service, etc. As an option, an application executing at one ormore of the clients (106) may be operating in response to user inputsreceived, for example, via a user interface at the client (106). Stillyet, a request from one of the clients (106) may be sent in response touser input received at the respective client (106). For example, a firstservices gateway (104 a) may receive a request from accounting softwareexecuting on a first client (106 a), and a second services gateway (106b) may receive a request from tax software executing on a second client(106 d).

As described herein, each of the services gateways (104 a-104 n)includes software and/or hardware for receiving requests from a client(106), and responding to the requests in accordance with configurationdata received from the services registry server (102). As noted above, arequest from a client (106) may include a message requesting action oraccess with respect to one or more resources offered via the servicegateways (104). In other words, the clients (106) may access remotelyhosted resources (e.g., services, applications, data, etc.) via theservices gateways (104). Moreover, the services gateways (104) maycontrol access to the remotely hosted resources based on configurationdata received from the services registry (102). Thus, the servicesgateways (104) may permit or reject access, by the clients (106), toremotely hosted resources based on configuration data that originatesfrom the services registry server (102), as described in more detailbelow.

As described herein, the services registry server (102) includessoftware and/or hardware that stores a services registry in accordancewith one or more embodiments of the invention. The services registryincludes a repository storing configuration data for use by each of theservices gateways (104 a-104 n). In one or more embodiments, theconfiguration data of the services registry may include metadata, suchas security metadata. In one or more embodiments, the services registryserver (102) provides the configuration data stored within its servicesregistry to the services gateways (104), as described in more detailbelow.

Referring now to FIG. 1B, another schematic diagram is shown of thesystem (100) for service gateway policy enforcement and service metadatabinding, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention.Specifically, FIG. 1B illustrates in more detail a services registryserver (102), a services gateway (104), and a computer network (118)therebetween.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the services gateway (104) is illustrated toinclude a services pool (120), a policies pool (122), a routes pool(124), and a policy execution engine (126) in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the invention.

The services pool (120) of the services gateway (104) of FIG. 1B isshown to include various discrete services (128 a-128 n) in accordancewith one or more embodiments of the invention. As used herein, a serviceincludes any resource accessible for use over a network. As an option,one or more of the services (128) may be utilized by an applicationdeveloped by a first party, second party, or third party applicationdeveloper. In one or more embodiments, the services (128) of theservices pool (120) may include any combination of platforms, softwareapplications, and/or processes. For example, service 1 (128 a) mayinclude an identity service, and service n (128 n) may include adocument service. Additional examples of services (128) that may beincluded in the services pool (120) include: routing services, commerceservices, data access services or platforms, financial managementapplications (e.g., accounting platforms, tax management platforms,etc.), and/or data exchange services. For purposes of simplicity, theservices pool (120) is shown to include two services (128), however itis contemplated that the services pool (120) may include any number ofdifferent services (128). For example, the services pool (120) mayinclude tens, hundreds, or thousands of services (128).

In one or more embodiments, a service (128) of the services pool (120)may include an application program interface (API (129)). For example,service 1 (128 a) is shown to include API 1 (129 a) and service n (128n) is shown to include API n (129 n). An API (129) may include a set ofremote calls for accessing data of the respective service (128). Forexample, if service 1 (128 a) is an identity service, then API 1 (129 a)of service 1 (128 a) may include one or more methods for calling theidentity service to validate a device or user utilizing the identityservice. Similarly, if service n (128 n) is a document service, then APIn (129 n) of service n (128 n) may include one or more methods forcalling the document service to store, delete, or modify a file, folder,or object.

In one or more embodiments, the services (128) in the services pool(120) may call each other. For example, service 1 (128 a) of theservices pool (120) may call service n (128 n) using API n (129 n).

Further, the policies pool (122) of the services gateway (104) of FIG.1B is illustrated to include a plurality of policies (130 a-130 n). Apolicy includes any information that defines how to, and/or is used to,determine whether to grant or deny a client access to a resource. Forexample, when a client has requested access to the one of the services(128) in a request received at the services gateway (104), one or moreof the policies (130) may be utilized for determining whether to grantor deny the client access to the one of the services (128). Each of thepolicies may include, for example, an authentication type, anauthorization rule, a throttling rule, a traffic swimlane, etc.

Also, the routes pool (124) of the services gateway (104) of FIG. 1B isillustrated to include a plurality of routes (132 a-132 n). As usedherein, a route is a path through the services gateway (104). In one ormore embodiments, each route includes a Uniform Resource Identifier(URI) pattern. The URI pattern of a given route may define a requestpath for the route. In one or more embodiments, each route may include aURI pattern and one or more attributes associated with the URI pattern.An attribute associated with a URI pattern may include information thatdescribes a quality, feature, characteristic, and/or property of the URIpattern.

In one or more embodiments, each of the routes (132 a-132 n) may bebound to one or more of the policies (130 a-130 n) that are required forthe route. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1B, a first binding (156)binds route 1 (132 a) to policy 1 (130 a) and a second binding (154)binds route 1 (132 a) to policy n (130 n); while a third binding (152)binds route n (132 n) to policy 1 (130 a). Accordingly, policy 1 (130 a)and policy n (130 n) may be required for route 1 (132 a), while onlypolicy 1 (130 a) is required for route n (132 n).

In one or more embodiments, each of the bindings (152, 154, 156)includes an annotation of the respective policy (130) with a set ofmetadata that defines when it can be executed. For example, the firstbinding (156) may include an annotation of policy n (130 n) withmetadata defining that policy n (130 n) is executed for requeststargeting route 1 (132 a). Similarly, the second binding (154) mayinclude an annotation of policy 1 (130 a) with metadata defining thatpolicy 1 (130 a) is executed for requests targeting route 1 (132 a); andthe third binding (152) may include an annotation of policy 1 (130 a)with metadata defining that policy 1 (130 a) is also executed forrequests targeting route n (132 n).

In one or more embodiments, each of the of the bindings (152, 154, 156)may statically link a route (132) to a policy (130). For example, by wayof the first binding (156), route 1 (132 a) is statically linked topolicy n (130 n), and by way of the second binding (154), route 1 (132a) is also statically linked to policy 1 (130 a). By way of thesebindings, although there may be dozens, hundreds, or more policies onthe services gateway (104), only the policies linked to a given routeare executed when the route is targeted by a request.

In one or more embodiments, the policy execution engine (126) includes aprocess executing on the services gateway (104) that executes policiesagainst requests received from clients. For example, upon receiving arequest from a client, the policy execution engine (126) may identifypolicies (130) that need to be executed against the request before therequest may be fulfilled. In one or more embodiments, the policies (130)executed against a request may be identified using bindings. Forexample, the policies (130) executed against a request may be identifiedby traversing any static links between a route (132) targeted by therequest and the policies (130).

In one or more embodiments, the policies (130) executed against arequest may be identified based on a content of the request. Forexample, a particular request may specify a path to a requestedresource. The policy execution engine (126) may execute one or morepolicies (130) against the request in order to determine whether therequest can be fulfilled. The policies (130) executed against therequest may be identified based on a route identified to match the pathin the request. More specifically, the particular policies executedagainst the request may be identified and executed against the requestbecause the policies are bound to the route that matches the path in therequest.

As illustrated in FIG. 1B, the services registry server (102) includes aservices registry (110) in accordance with one or more embodiments ofthe invention. Further, the services registry (110) stores configurationdata (112). The configuration data (112) of the services registry (110)includes policy annotations (114) and data bindings (116). The policyannotations (114) include metadata describing various policies. Thus,the policy annotations (114) may include metadata describing one or moreauthentication protocols. Also, the policy annotations (114) maydescribe one or more throttling processes. Still yet, the policyannotations (114) may describe one or more authorization protocols. Forexample, the policy annotations (114) may describe OAuth1, OAuth2, etc.,authentication protocols. In other words, the policy annotations (114)describe the different mechanisms that may be available to a servicesgateway (104) for enforcement against a request from a client, or forotherwise enhancing a request from a client.

Accordingly, the policies (130) within the policies pool (122) may beannotated based on the configuration data (112) of the services registry(110). More specifically, using the policy annotations (114), theservices gateway (104) may flag one or more of the policies (130). Forexample, using the policy annotations (114), the services gateway (104)may identify a first portion of code (e.g., java code, etc.) representedas policy 1 (130 a), and flag the first portion of code as the “OAuth1”policy. In the same example, using the policy annotations (114), theservices gateway (104) may identify a second portion of code representedas policy n (130 n), and flag the second portion of code as the “OAuth1”policy. In this manner, using the policy annotations (114), coderesident on the services gateway (104) may be discretized into theindividual policies (130).

Additionally, the data bindings (116) stored in the services registry(110) include metadata that identifies bindings between policies (130)and routes (132). More specifically, the data bindings (116) specifytarget routes (132) to which one or more policies (130), as described inthe policy annotations (114), should be bound. Thus, where the policyannotations (114) flag a first portion of code as including the “OAuth1”policy, the data bindings (116) may specify one or more routes to whichthe “OAuth1” policy is bound. Similarly, where the policy annotations(114) flag a second portion of code as including the “OAuth2” policy,the data bindings (116) may specify one or more routes to which the“OAuth2” policy is bound.

Accordingly, using the policy annotations (114) and the data bindings(116) of the services registry (110), the policies (130) may beannotated and bound to routes (132). In other words, as illustrated inFIG. 2B, the bindings (152, 154, 156) are created within the servicesgateway (104) based on the configuration data (112) of the servicesregistry (110).

In one or more embodiments, the policy annotations (114) and the databindings (116) are received from the services registry server (102) bythe services gateway (104) over the computer network (118). In one ormore embodiments, after receiving the policy annotations (114), theservices gateway (104) may annotate different portions of code toidentify the policies (130) of the policies pool (122). Moreover, afterreceiving the data bindings (116), the services gateway (104) may bindone or more of the policies (130) to one or more of the routes (132).

In one or more embodiments, the annotation of the policies (130) and/orthe creation of the bindings (152, 154, 156) may occur when the servicesgateway (104) is initialized. As an option, when the services gateway(104) is initialized, the services gateway (104) retrieves the policyannotations (114) and the data bindings (116) from the services registry(110). The initialization of the services gateway (104) may include, forexample a startup process. In other words, as the services gateway (104)is started, the services gateway (104) retrieves (e.g., via the computernetwork 118, etc.) the configuration data (112) from the servicesregistry (110), and utilizes the retrieved configuration data (112) forconfiguring the operation of the services gateway (104). As describedabove, such configuration may includes annotating one or more policies,and binding to such policies one or more routes.

For purposes of simplicity and clarity, the services gateway (104) isshown to include two services (128 a and 128 n), two policies (130 a and130 n), and two routes (132 a and 132 n). However, it is contemplatedthat the services gateway (104) may include any number of services(128), policies (130), and/or routes (132) greater than or less thantwo. For example, the services gateway (104) may provide hundreds ofservices (120), while enforcing hundreds policies (130) via hundreds ofroutes (132).

As an option, there may be more than one or more instance of theservices registry (110) on the services registry server (102). Forexample, a first instance of the services registry (110) may beconfigured for use by pre-production services gateways, and a secondinstance of the services registry (110) may be configured for use byproduction services gateways. In this manner, new policy annotations anddata bindings may be tested on pre-production services gateways withoutinterfering with the operation of production services gateways activelybeing used by customers and clients.

FIG. 2A depicts a flowchart of a method (200) for configuring a servicesgateway, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention. Inone or more embodiments, one or more of the steps shown in FIG. 2A maybe omitted, repeated, and/or performed in a different order.Accordingly, embodiments of the invention should not be consideredlimited to the specific arrangements of steps shown in FIG. 2A. In oneor more embodiments, the method (200) described in reference to FIG. 2Amay be practiced using a services gateway (104) of the system (100)described in reference to FIGS. 1A-1B, above, and/or involving thecomputing system (400) described in reference to FIG. 4A.

As shown in FIG. 2A, at Step 202, configuration data is received from aservices registry in accordance with one or more embodiments of theinvention. In one or more embodiments, the configuration data may bereceived via a network. For example, the configuration data may bereceived via the Internet, a local area network (LAN), a wide areanetwork (WAN), or a virtual private network (VPN). In one or moreembodiments, the configuration data may include policy annotationsand/or data bindings. As an option, the policy annotations includemetadata describing one or more policies. The policies may includeauthentication protocols, throttling processes, authorization protocols,etc. As an option, the data bindings include metadata identifying abinding between a route and a policy.

In one or more embodiments, the configuration data may be receivedduring an initialization process. For example, a services gateway (104)may retrieve the configuration data during a startup process, a restart,etc.

Based on the configuration data, a plurality of policies are annotated,at Step 204, with flags. In one or more embodiments, each of the flagsmay identify a portion of code as corresponding to a respective policy.For example, a first flag may identify a first portion of code as afirst policy, and a second flag may identify a second portion of code asa second policy that is different than the first policy. In this way,different portions of code may be identified as corresponding topolicies available for enforcement on the services gateway (104).Moreover, by flagging the policies in a manner that is consistent with apre-determined set of policy annotations, the policies may besubsequently located in a more rapid manner. In one or more embodiments,annotating a policy with a flag may enable the linking of the policy toone or more other objects controlled on the services gateway (104).

Still yet, using the annotations of the policies, a route is bound, atStep 206, to at least one of the annotated policies. In one or moreembodiments, the binding of a policy to a route includes an annotationof the policy with a set of metadata defining that the policy isexecuted for requests targeting the route. In other words, the bindingof a route to a policy may statically link the route to the policy. As aresult, whenever the route is identified in a client request, anypolicies bound to the route may be executed by a policy execution enginethat follows such static links, as described in the context of FIG. 2B,below.

FIG. 2B depicts a flowchart of a method (250) for responding to clientrequests received at a services gateway, in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the invention. In one or more embodiments, one or more ofthe steps shown in FIG. 2B may be omitted, repeated, and/or performed ina different order. Accordingly, embodiments of the invention should notbe considered limited to the specific arrangements of steps shown inFIG. 2B. In one or more embodiments, the method (250) described inreference to FIG. 2B may be practiced using the system (100) describedin reference to FIGS. 1A-1B, above, and/or involving the computingsystem (400) described in reference to FIG. 4A.

Initially, Step 252, a services gateway is configured usingconfiguration data from a services registry. As described above in thecontext of FIGS. 1A-1B, the services gateway may store policies. As anoption, the services gateway may receive the policies from a server,such as, for example, a services registry server. The policies may bereceived and/or updated during an initialization process, at regularlyscheduled intervals, or may be pushed to the services registryon-demand. The policies may include authentication protocols, throttlingprocesses, authorization protocols, etc. The services gateway may beconfigured as described in the above discussion of Steps 202-206 of FIG.2A. In other words, during the configuration of the services gateway,policies of the services gateway may be annotated, based onconfiguration data, with flags, as described above in the context ofStep 204 of FIG. 2A. Moreover, the configuration of the services gatewaymay include binding one or more policies to one or more routes, asdescribed above in the context of Step 206 of FIG. 2A.

At Step 254, a request is received from a client. Next, at Step 256, acontent of the request is used to match the request to a route. In oneor more embodiments, the request includes a message requesting access toa resource (i.e., service) via the services gateway. For example, therequest may includes a PUT or GET request directed to a commerce serviceor financial management application. Moreover, the request may identifya path to the resource for which access is requested. In one or moreembodiments, the content of the request is used to match the request toa route. As described above, the services gateway receiving the requestmay store numerous routes. The request may be matched to the route byperforming a lookup on available routes, and comparing the paths ofavailable routes with the path identified in the request.

In addition, in response to matching the request to the route, one ormore policies that are bound to the route are executed against therequest at Step 258. As used herein, executing a policy includes anyprocess that enforces rules or requirements defined by the policy basedon aspect of the request. As an option, the rules or requirements of thepolicy may be directed to a content of the request (e.g., an objecttargeted by the request), a timing of the request, a password containedin the request, etc. In addition, the rules or requirements of thepolicy may be directed to an origin of the request, such as, forexample, a machine identifier, an IP address, a user name, anapplication, a geographic location, etc.

Next, it is determined, at Step 260, whether policy execution wassuccessful. In one or more embodiments, an executed policy may returnwith a status that indicates whether execution of the policy failed orwas successful. For example, where the policy is an authenticationpolicy, if the client from which the request originated cannot beauthenticated, then execution of the policy may fail. As anotherexample, where the policy is an authorization policy, in order for therequest to be allowed, the client from which the request originated mustbe authorized to perform the request.

In one or more embodiments, multiple policies may be bound to the routethat matches the request received at Step 254. For example, a throttlingpolicy, an authentication policy, and an authorization policy may all bebound to a single route that matches the request. As an option in suchembodiments, in order for policy execution to be successful at Step 260,all of the policies may need to execute successfully. In other words, insuch embodiments, for policy execution to be successful at Step 260,then all of the policies may need to return a success and/or none of thepolicies may return an error.

In embodiments where multiple policies are bound to the route thatmatches a request, an ordering of the policy execution may be determinedby a predetermined phasing. For example, where three different policiesare all bound to a single route that matches the request, then apre-determined phasing may be used to determine the execution order ofthe three policies. More specifically, if a throttling policy, anauthentication policy, and an authorization policy are all bound to asingle route that matches the request, then, based on a pre-determinedphasing, the authentication policy may execute first against therequest, then the authorization policy may execute second against therequest, and the throttling policy will execute last against the policy.In this manner, the order of execution of policies may be controlled.

In one or more embodiments, execution of a policy may be blocking ornon-blocking. As an option, both blocking and non-blocking policies maybe bound to a single route. In this manner, the policies bound to atargeted route may be executed in a synchronous and/or asynchronousmanner.

If, at Step 260, it is determined that execution of the policies wassuccessful, then the request is allowed at Step 264. In one or moreembodiments, allowing the request includes granting access to a resourcetargeted by the request. For example, the request may originate from aclient, where the request specifies a path to stored data or a servicethat the client intends to access. In such an example, if all policiesidentified based on the path in the request are successfully executed,then the client is given access to the stored data or service.

However, if, at Step 260, it is determined that execution of thepolicies was not successful, then the request is denied at Step 262. Inone or more embodiments, denying the request includes any operationsthat results in a refusal of the request. For example, the request mayoriginate from a client, where the request specifies a path to storeddata or a service that the client intends to access. In such an example,if one or more of the policies identified based on the path in therequest are not successfully executed, then the client is not providedaccess to the stored data or service in response to the request.

After the request is allowed or denied, at Step 264 or Step 262,respectively, the method (250) of FIG. 2B may end. In one or moreembodiments, however, the services gateway may continue to perform theSteps 254-264 of the method (250) with respect to additional clientrequests. For example, the services gateway configured at Step 252 mayreceive additional requests, match the requests to routes, and allow ordeny the requests based on whether the policies attached to the routesare executed successfully.

FIG. 3 illustrates a system (300) performing service gateway policyenforcement and service metadata binding, in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the invention. The system (300) may perform the servicegateway policy enforcement and service metadata binding in the contextof the system (100) of FIGS. 1A-B, or the computing system (400) of FIG.4A, and based on the methods described with respect to FIGS. 2A-2B,above.

As shown in FIG. 3, the system (300) includes a services registry server(302) in communication with a services gateway (304), as well as aclient (306) in communication with the services gateway (304). Theservices registry server (302) may be substantially identical to theservices registry server (102) previously described in the context ofFIGS. 1A and 1B. Similarly, the services gateway (304) may besubstantially identical to any of the services gateways (104) previouslydescribed in the context of FIGS. 1A and 1B. Also, the client (306) maybe substantially identical to any of the clients (106) previouslydescribed in the context of FIGS. 1A and 1B.

As illustrated by FIG. 3, the services registry server (302) stores aservices registry (308). Moreover, the services registry (308) is shownto include policy annotations (314) and data bindings (316). The policyannotations (314) of the services registry (308) provide instructionsfor flagging policies. More specifically, the policy annotations (314)provide instructions for annotating or flagging a first portion of codeas including a “privateAuth” policy, a second portion of code asincluding a “SimpleAuth” policy, a third portion of code as including an“OAuth1” policy, and a fourth portion of code as including an “OAuth2”policy.

Also, the data bindings (316) of the services registry (308) includeinstructions to bind the policies identified in the policy annotations(314) to one or more routes. Specifically, the data bindings (316)provide instructions for binding the privateAuth policy to all v1services (i.e., “/v1/*”), for binding the SimpleAuth policy to all v1services (i.e., “/v1/*”), for binding the OAuth1 policy to all v2services (i.e., “/v2/*”), and for binding the OAuth2 policy to all v2services (i.e., “/v2/*”). In this manner, the services registry (308)may store instructions for validating portions of code as specificallyincluding one or more pre-determined policies, as well as instructionsfor binding each of the pre-determined policies to paths used by clientsto access services.

Furthermore, as illustrated by FIG. 3, the services gateway (304)receives configuration data from the services registry (308). Morespecifically, the services gateway receives the policy annotations (314)and the data bindings (316) from the services registry (308). In one ormore embodiments, the services gateway (304) may retrieve configurationdata from the services registry (308) during an initialization processof the services gateway (304). For example, the services gateway (304)may retrieve the policy annotations (314) and the data bindings (316)from the services registry (308) of the services registry server (302)during startup of the services gateway (304).

The services gateway (304) includes a routes pool (324). Specifically,the routes pool (324) is shown to include a first route (320) and asecond route (330). The first route (320) is configured such that it isused by all v1 services on the services gateway 304. More specifically,the first route (320) is configured such that it is used for all v1REpresentational State Transfer (REST) web services on the servicesgateway (304). In a similar manner, the second route (330) is configuredsuch that it is used by all v2 services. More specifically, the secondroute (330) is configured such that it is used for all v2 REST webservices on the services gateway (304).

Also, the services gateway 304 has been configured using the policyannotations (314) and the data bindings (316) received from the servicesregistry (308). In particular, based on the policy annotations (314),privateAuth and SimpleAuth policies on the services gateway (304) havebeen flagged. Also, based on the data bindings (316), the flaggedprivateAuth and SimpleAuth policies have been bound to the first route(320) for the v1 REST web services. Similarly, based on the policyannotations (314), OAuth1 and OAuth2 policies on the services gateway(304) have been flagged. Also, based on the data bindings (316), theflagged OAuth1 and OAuth2 policies have been bound to the second route(330) for the v2 REST web services.

Although not shown in FIG. 3, additional other routes may be configuredwithin the services gateway (304) based on the contents of the servicesregistry (308). For example, other routes may include other combinationsof policies that are not explicitly shown in FIG. 3.

Sometime after the services gateway (304) is configured, the servicesgateway (304) receives a request (340) from the client (306). As shownin FIG. 3, the request (340) includes (e.g., in a header of the request,etc.): “GET/v1/foo HTTP/1.1.” Accordingly, the request (340) includes aHypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request to list, search, or acquireinformation from the foo service. The foo service may be accessible viathe services gateway (304). Upon receiving the request (340) from theclient (306), the services gateway (304) utilizes the path to the fooservice in the request (340) to match the first route (320) with thewith the request (340). More specifically, the “/v1/foo” contents of therequest (340) are matched to the “/rest/v1/*” path of the first route(320). Accordingly, based on the matching of the first route (320) tothe request (340), the policies bound to the first route (320) areexecuted against the request (340). Specifically, the privateAuth andSimpleAuth policies bound to the first route (320) are executed againstthe request (340). Executing the privateAuth and SimpleAuth policiesagainst the request (340) may include any process that authenticates orauthorizes access to the foo service by the client (306) or a user ofthe client (306). If both the privateAuth and SimpleAuth policies aresuccessfully executed against the request (340), then the request (340)may be allowed to access the foo service. However, if one or both of theprivateAuth and SimpleAuth policies are not successfully executedagainst the request (340), then the request (340) may be denied, and theclient (306) will be unable to access the foo service based on therequest (340).

Thus, the other policies (e.g., OAuth1 and OAuth2) are ignored duringthe processing of the request (340) from the client (306). In otherwords, because the OAuth1 and OAuth2 policies are not bound to the route(320) targeted by the request (340), the OAuth1 and OAuth2 policies arenot entered and/or executed in response to receiving the request (340)from the client (306). In this manner, execution of any policies notbound to the route is prevented (i.e., execution of the OAuth1 andOAuth2 policies against the request is prevented). By ensuring thatpolicies are not unnecessarily entered and/or executed, the runtime ofprocessing requests may stay constant overtime. For example, as featuresand policies are added to the services gateway (304), the requestprocessing time will stay constant as the additional features andpolicies will not impact the processing of the request (340) receivedfrom the client (306).

Conversely, in prior art systems, the enforcement time for policies maycontinually increase as new policies are created or added. For example,a prior art services gateway may be configured such that, for eachreceived request, the prior art services gateway must enter and exit allpolicies on the prior art services gateway and perform a lookup todetermine if each policy should be executed for the request. In otherwords, a prior art services gateway enforcing 30 policies can beexpected enter, perform a corresponding lookup, and exit 50% morepolicies than a prior art services gateway that is responsible forenforcing only 20 of the policies. As a result, as the number ofpolicies accumulate on the prior art services gateway, the runtime forevery request can be expected to increase in a corresponding manner. Thedetrimental delays of such a system accumulate rapidly and significantlywhen requests are received by the hundreds, thousands, and beyond.

Accordingly, the gateway policy enforcement and service metadata bindingsystems and methods described hereinabove provide services gateways witha mechanism to quickly and efficiently respond to client requests.Moreover, as the number of services accessed via a services gatewayincreases and/or the number of policies enforced at the services gatewayincreases, response times of the services gateway will remain constant,and will not coordinately increase. This may allow web servicesdevelopers to expand the number of services offered to clients withoutnegatively impacting user experience.

Embodiments of the invention may be implemented on a computing system.Any combination of mobile, desktop, server, router, switch, embeddeddevice, or other types of hardware may be used. For example, as shown inFIG. 4A, the computing system (400) may include one or more computerprocessors (402), non-persistent storage (404) (e.g., volatile memory,such as random access memory (RAM), cache memory), persistent storage(406) (e.g., a hard disk, an optical drive such as a compact disk (CD)drive or digital versatile disk (DVD) drive, a flash memory, etc.), acommunication interface (412) (e.g., Bluetooth interface, infraredinterface, network interface, optical interface, etc.), and numerousother elements and functionalities.

The computer processor(s) (402) may be an integrated circuit forprocessing instructions. For example, the computer processor(s) may beone or more cores or micro-cores of a processor. The computing system(400) may also include one or more input devices (410), such as atouchscreen, keyboard, mouse, microphone, touchpad, electronic pen, orany other type of input device.

The communication interface (412) may include an integrated circuit forconnecting the computing system (400) to a network (not shown) (e.g., alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) such as theInternet, mobile network, or any other type of network) and/or toanother device, such as another computing device.

Further, the computing system (400) may include one or more outputdevices (408), such as a screen (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), aplasma display, touchscreen, cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor, projector,or other display device), a printer, external storage, or any otheroutput device. One or more of the output devices may be the same ordifferent from the input device(s). The input and output device(s) maybe locally or remotely connected to the computer processor(s) (402),non-persistent storage (404), and persistent storage (406). Manydifferent types of computing systems exist, and the aforementioned inputand output device(s) may take other forms.

Software instructions in the form of computer readable program code toperform embodiments of the invention may be stored, in whole or in part,temporarily or permanently, on a non-transitory computer readable mediumsuch as a CD, DVD, storage device, a diskette, a tape, flash memory,physical memory, or any other computer readable storage medium.Specifically, the software instructions may correspond to computerreadable program code that, when executed by a processor(s), isconfigured to perform one or more embodiments of the invention.

The computing system (400) in FIG. 4A may be connected to or be a partof a network. For example, as shown in FIG. 4B, the network (420) mayinclude multiple nodes (e.g., node X (422), node Y (424)). Each node maycorrespond to a computing system, such as the computing system shown inFIG. 4A, or a group of nodes combined may correspond to the computingsystem shown in FIG. 4A. By way of an example, embodiments of theinvention may be implemented on a node of a distributed system that isconnected to other nodes. By way of another example, embodiments of theinvention may be implemented on a distributed computing system havingmultiple nodes, where each portion of the invention may be located on adifferent node within the distributed computing system. Further, one ormore elements of the aforementioned computing system (400) may belocated at a remote location and connected to the other elements over anetwork.

Although not shown in FIG. 4B, the node may correspond to a blade in aserver chassis that is connected to other nodes via a backplane. By wayof another example, the node may correspond to a server in a datacenter. By way of another example, the node may correspond to a computerprocessor or micro-core of a computer processor with shared memoryand/or resources.

The nodes (e.g., node X (422), node Y (424)) in the network (420) may beconfigured to provide services for a client device (426). For example,the nodes may be part of a cloud computing system. The nodes may includefunctionality to receive requests from the client device (426) andtransmit responses to the client device (426). The client device (426)may be a computing system, such as the computing system shown in FIG.4A. Further, the client device (426) may include and/or perform all or aportion of one or more embodiments of the invention.

The computing system or group of computing systems described in FIGS. 4Aand 4B may include functionality to perform a variety of operationsdisclosed herein. For example, the computing system(s) may performcommunication between processes on the same or different system. Avariety of mechanisms, employing some form of active or passivecommunication, may facilitate the exchange of data between processes onthe same device. Examples representative of these inter-processcommunications include, but are not limited to, the implementation of afile, a signal, a socket, a message queue, a pipeline, a semaphore,shared memory, message passing, and a memory-mapped file.

The computing system in FIG. 4A may implement and/or be connected to adata repository. For example, one type of data repository is a database.A database is a collection of information configured for ease of dataretrieval, modification, re-organization, and deletion. DatabaseManagement System (DBMS) is a software application that provides aninterface for users to define, create, query, update, or administerdatabases.

The user, or software application, may submit a statement or query intothe DBMS. Then the DBMS interprets the statement. The statement may be aselect statement to request information, update statement, createstatement, delete statement, etc. Moreover, the statement may includeparameters that specify data, or data container (database, table,record, column, view, etc.), identifier(s), conditions (comparisonoperators), functions (e.g. join, full join, count, average, etc.), sort(e.g., ascending, descending), or others. The DBMS may execute thestatement. For example, the DBMS may access a memory buffer, a referenceor index a file for read, write, deletion, or any combination thereof,for responding to the statement. The DBMS may load the data frompersistent or non-persistent storage and perform computations to respondto the query. The DBMS may return the result(s) to the user or softwareapplication.

The above description of functions present only a few examples offunctions performed by the computing system of FIG. 4A and the nodesand/or client device in FIG. 4B. Other functions may be performed usingone or more embodiments of the invention.

While the invention has been described with respect to a limited numberof embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of thisdisclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised whichdo not depart from the scope of the invention as disclosed herein.Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by theattached claims.

1. A method for gateway policy enforcement, comprising: receivingconfiguration data from a services registry; annotating, based on theconfiguration data, a plurality of policies with flags; and binding,using the annotations of the policies, a route to at least one of theannotated policies.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving a request from a client; and matching, using a content of therequest, the request to the route.
 3. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising: in response to matching the request to the route, executing,against the request, the at least one of the policies bound to theroute.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: processing therequest when the at least one of the policies is successfully executedagainst the request.
 5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:denying the request when the at least one of the policies is notsuccessfully executed against the request.
 6. The method of claim 3,wherein the configuration data is received from the services registryduring an initialization process.
 7. The method of claim 3, furthercomprising preventing execution, against the request, of any of thepolicies not bound to the route.
 8. The method of claim 3, wherein theat least one of the policies bound to the route includes at least oneof: an authentication type, an authorization rule, a throttling rule,and a traffic swimlane.
 9. A system for gateway policy enforcement,comprising: a hardware processor and memory; and software instructionsstored in the memory and configured to execute on the hardwareprocessor, which, when executed by the hardware processor, cause thehardware processor to: receive configuration data from a servicesregistry; annotate, based on the configuration data, a plurality ofpolicies with flags; and bind, using the annotations of the policies, aroute to at least one of the annotated policies.
 10. The system of claim9, wherein the software instructions are configured to, when executed bythe hardware processor, further cause the hardware processor to: receivea request from a client; and match, using a content of the request, therequest to the route.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the softwareinstructions are configured to, when executed by the hardware processor,further cause the hardware processor to: in response to matching therequest to the route, execute, against the request, the at least one ofthe policies bound to the route.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein thesoftware instructions are configured to, when executed by the hardwareprocessor, further cause the hardware processor to: process the requestwhen the at least one of the policies is successfully executed againstthe request.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the softwareinstructions are configured to, when executed by the hardware processor,further cause the hardware processor to: deny the request when the atleast one of the policies is not successfully executed against therequest.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein the configuration data isreceived from the services registry during an initialization process.15. The system of claim 11, wherein the software instructions areconfigured to, when executed by the hardware processor, further causethe hardware processor to: prevent execution, against the request, ofany of the policies not bound to the route.
 16. The system of claim 11,wherein the at least one of the policies bound to the route includes atleast one of: an authentication type, an authorization rule, athrottling rule, and a traffic swimlane.
 17. A non-transitory computerreadable medium for gateway policy enforcement comprising instructionsthat, when executed by a processor, perform a method, comprising:receiving configuration data from a services registry; annotating, basedon the configuration data, a plurality of policies with flags; andbinding, using the annotations of the policies, a route to at least oneof the annotated policies.
 18. The non-transitory computer readablemedium of claim 17, wherein the instructions, when executed by theprocessor, further perform a method, comprising: receiving a requestfrom a client; and matching, using a content of the request, the requestto the route.
 19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim18, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, furtherperform a method, comprising: in response to matching the request to theroute, executing, against the request, the at least one of the policiesbound to the route.
 20. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 19, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor,further perform a method, comprising: processing the request when the atleast one of the policies is successfully executed against the request.